Varin Akorr's page

@ Lemmy: Hmm, generally true enough stuff, though I disagree a bit about the feat selection meaning more to martials. Or rather, I do agree, if the character is only being played as a caster. If you're trying to mix martial and magic, feat selection seems likely, to me at least, to have as much impact for the 'caster' as it would on any martial.

But I do see where you're coming from, and I suppose a caster's fall-back option of spells tend to have more variety when their feats prove ineffective than a martial's fall-back.

Just on the topic of Sorc/DD's (specifically, somewhat melee-oriented ones), here's Varin, who is exactly that, as an example (admittedly level 20 though). I mean, since this is a build thread and all and I've already got him available, I suppose I may as well put him up... but I'll just put the link rather than a full explanation since this is supposed to be more about swinging swords... and he only swings a greatsword on occasion (much prefers to claw people or mega-ice-stab them to death) ;P

-Darkwolf

Okay. Varin's all set I think (oh, and yes, he actually has an alias all to himself). I did a lot of editing back and forth between his Normal and Dragon forms though... so there may be something messed up somewhere. If anyone looks it over and notices anything off, please let me know, and I'll attempt to do some double checking once I've let it sit for awhile.

Also, one thing that I'm not really sure of is the range of Frightful Presence, as granted by Form of the Dragon III. Aside from that however, he should be good to go. Oh, and his encumbrance vs. carrying capacity is just the best...

But anyway, I am rather psyched for this battle :D In Dragon form, Varin actually outdoes Galtraxis on Strength and HP, just barely (46 Strength and 466 HP). Of course, he's got a much lower BAB, making it more difficult for him to hit, but that should hopefully be resolved, as below.

The general plan is going to be something like this:

Probably getting hit by Dimensional Anchor, but no big deal. His wings are constant, so I imagine he'll either be flying or if not at least have them at the ready - so, hop into the air and use Prismatic Sphere for almost total safety from everything.

Nothing Galtraxis does can penetrate it, but he actually could attempt to force his way through it personally, using his Spell Resistance as protection. However, Varin has a +24 on checks to overcome SR, meaning he'd succeed on 9 or higher and it needs to be repeated for each color. So, in theory, Galtraxis would probably eat 3 or 4 of the effects as he goes through, though he can save to reduce them as well. Otherwise though, they certainly could hurt (and as a side note, if he gets sent to another plane... is that a win?).

If he tries to push through, then Varin can pretty much juke back and forth around/through the sphere while buffing, just with less impunity. Otherwise, he gets plenty of time to put up whatever he wants (though so does Galtraxis).

At any rate though, before battle he'd have Greater False Life, Mind Blank, and a Contingency on Greater Heroism set to go off if/when he gets targeted with something hostile (so it should actually probably kick into effect when Galtraxis fires off the Dimensional Anchor... or maybe when he's forced to save against Frightful Presence?).

Once battle is initiated, he'll buff up with: Shield, See Invis, Resist Energy (Fire), Displacement, Haste (those 2 cast last, as they are the only ones measured in rounds per level, I think), Spell Resistance, Fluid Form, and Seamantle. Finally, once that's all done, Form of the Dragon III, and time for battle.

He'll then immediately try to debuff Galtraxis. Prediction of Failure and Waves of Exhaustion will probably be the first ones off, possibly followed by Icy Prison and maybe Enervations, if he thinks they'll do nicely, but probably not (a little on the slow side, but then again, it's pretty much an autohit on his touch, just would have to contend with the SR).

He'll be tossing Maximized Ice Strikes off round after round with his Swift action for 105 Cold damage with a +28 to break through Galtraxis's SR and only costing him a 6th level slot (Spell Perfection is magnificent). And if Galtraxis wants to engage him in melee, Varin will be more than happy to oblige (with something like +30 or 40 to-hit after buffs, it's manageable, though Galtraxis can probably hit him with ease as well. Fluid Form and Seamantle should provide a bit of defense against that as well though. Also, Seamantle should provide some added protection against that Breath weapon Varin is vulnerable to *coughcough*).

And even if Galtraxis is invisible when he goes into melee, Varin's got Blindsense 60 feet, and Greater Blind-Fight, so Concealment means little to him (Total Concealment is treated as a normal 20% miss chance, and he can reroll the miss chance once per attack. Also, no bonus to attackers as long as he can pinpoint them... such as through Blindsense). Having Displacement on should also mean that he'll be avoiding 50% of Galtraxis's attacks (unless he also has blind-fight, and I missed it?).

And... yeah. Hopefully Galtraxis goes down before Varin does. Or if not, hopefully the battle turns out pretty sweet. With luck, it should be pretty kickass, I'm thinking? :)

If anyone has any feedback and such, or any reasons they think it is a poor idea, please let me know, of course.

So, what with being psyched and rambling about this, how many people are in line for fights before Varin? Just to get an idea of when this could be expected to go, though I'm not in any particular hurry of course :P

For simplicity's sake, I'm just going to list what has him hidden so people don't have to guess if they can see him or not.

Turn done. Same Perception and Location as before (unless I should roll another stealth?).

Yay, we made it through a round!
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Also, can I get a check of who is noticeable to someone with See Invisibility and Arcane Sight? (So, not mind blanked people obviously, maybe not others). These few seconds have felt like weeks! I think Varin might be itching to just start killing if he can.

Assuming it's Varin's turn...

Also, locating Varin via perception if you can't see him is a DC 80. He's done now.

Well, by the time both rounds are done, anyone who makes a DC 65-ish Perception check can locate Varin at:

If his location at a particular time during these two rounds is important, let me know and I can specify where he was.

Well, that's a bit of a wake-up call. Alright, so we're not actively killing each other yet, is it fine if I post his two rounds of action now, and they can just be placed into initiative order as appropriate?
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Also, just for convenience:

I'll go ahead and post Varin's next two actions now, but if we want to actually go one at a time, then this can be discounted and I'll fix it up in a following post.

Varin raises an eyebrow at the words, then makes a nearly imperceptible gesture before vanishing from sight. A beat of wings can be heard even for those who can't see him, as he takes to the air. Not gonna bother hiding the spell for anyone who wants to do a spellcraft check, it was invisibility, and done as a swift action.

That would be his first turn. Second turn.

*Anyone who succeeds at a 65 or so (based on distance) Perception check can locate him. However, I'm not entirely positive where he ends up at, because I don't know where he started from, or where every one else is. So, I guess MotG can elaborate on how we are handling that?
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He also cast a few more spells. If anyone can see him while invisible without using some form of Divination magic, let me know and I'll put up the relevant DC's but this is probably cluttered enough as is if that isn't necessary.
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Whew! Okay, so that was a long post with a lot of spoilers. Anyway, that's basically how Varin spends the next 12 seconds then. Again, it can be placed in Initiative as appropriate (for example, he won't be invisible at all until his turn comes around, and so on). Just figured it'd be easiest to keep them all contained. If this is not an effective way to do it, I can fix that up.

Please move all discussion to the Discussion/Exploration thread.

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Edit: Addition to spoiler.

That would work well enough for me. I'm not sure why exactly, but I pictured Varin being off towards the west of the group, hence why he moved northwest (more or less the most direct route away from the middle of the pack), along one of the 'paths' (even though that's about half a mile away still).

Alright, so this is occurring just after all the invisibility was dispelled right? Meaning this is also the surprise round still? That being the case:

Hanging in the air, Varin laughs to himself as his invisibility drops. I'm not sure why I didn't see that coming from a Trickster, he thinks.

With a beat of his wings, he moves a fair distance away from the others, now that the wards have been removed, before hovering above the ground, arms crossed and looking back at the rest of the participants to see what they do.

70 feet away(NW-ish) and 20 feet in the air (assuming I stopped at the ceiling with my previous movement). Nothin' fancy.
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@ RD: I was thinking it could be handled in abstract terms, i.e. moving away or towards certain characters, but if we do have an exact map for where people can be, that'd be fine too. I assumed we didn't. If we want to get exact locations beforehand though, we can discount this post if it messes anything up.

I'm a bit confused by that too, I thought we were relying on combat intiative to see if people chose to attack or leave. Are we just assuming everyone left then, I guess?

A little behind on this, but:

Varin watches the creature struggle for a moment, giving a grim smile and a small incline of his head to the Trickster God.

"By all means, continue. I won't say I dislike the show," he says with a chuckle.

Varin grits his teeth as the dragons are incinerated, then grunts. Taking a few steps away from the rest of the participants, he mutters several words under his breath, before turning back to face to look at the others.

"So, let the slaughter begin, hmm? Haha, well this sounds like it could be fun! I hope no one dies too fast," he says, with a lopsided grin.

With that, he makes a few gestures with one hand and vanishes.

Looking up as the Master of the Games speaks, Varins scowls, revealing unnaturally sharp teeth. He listens a moment, as he rises to his feet, simultaneously looking over the other combatants with dark eyes. "Well, this is a bit unusual..." he mutters to himself, in a rough voice.

At full height, he stands a few inches upward of 6 feet tall, and sports a muscular build. Though seemingly human, to an extent, pale scales run across his skin, and leathery wings spread from his back. He wears relatively common clothing, with an assortment of accessories and items. The only obvious weapon he holds is a falchion, resting between the wings on his back.

He crosses his arms over his chest, and waits.

Well, I suppose I'll go ahead and put Varin up here then.

Statblock is listed on the alias, along with a breakdown of how all of those stats have been obtained. I'll probably have a backstory up at some point, once I figure out how to write it without him seeming quite as obviously evil as he is... :/

Just a few things of note:
-I'm not entirely positive if an insight bonus applies to flat-footed AC? It's only a difference of 1, but still.
-When a class's skills include 'Knowledge (all skills taken individually),' I'm guessing that means they count as class skills once a rank is put into them? It's an easy fix if not, though.
-I haven't tallied up his weight as of yet, but he can carry just under 700 pounds as a light load so... I think he's probably okay on it unless he picks up a truck.
-Edit: Also... I'm pretty sure I recall hearing that reslotting items was allowed? I certainly hope so, cuz I did a fair bit of that.

Any problems anyone sees or questions on something, let me know.

Incidentally, his picture may need to change... I was picturing him with black hair. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any such pictures that seemed to fit him, but I like this one for him now. I suppose his hair can change to go along with this, instead. Hmm.

-Darkwolf